Norman: the Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer

"Gere is brilliant in this character study/satire of Manhattan's Mobius loop of Jewish power, influence and interests." - Movie Nation

“Norman’s title character, played by Richard Gere, is what you might call a macher, or at least that’s what he’s trying to be: a big deal. His cryptic business card reads “Oppenheimer Strategies” and the sole proprietor is always asking what people need.

“Norman’s script, by the shrewd Israeli writer-director Joseph Cedar has the kind of intricate structure that impresses you the more you think about it. After Norman lures a minor Israeli deputy minister into his confidence, the movie pauses to settle its accounts: one politician impressed, one ritzy dinner infiltrated, one ignominious rejection from the inner circle. Then it skips ahead three years. The deputy has become his country’s prime minister and Norman can almost taste his own arrival to the major leagues. But with global peace negotiations in the balance, scandal rains down on both men, while Norman’s rabbi (a brilliantly transformed Steve Buscemi) expects his congregant to deliver on a promised windfall.

“Built out of complex performances etched with economic flair, unobtrusive camera work and the faintest tinge of comic whimsy, Norman is an intimate film that simply has no drawbacks” - Time Out